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A Jewel from Pforzheim: Jude Viola, MSII

The ruins of a Roman military highway sleep somewhere beneath the quiet waters which roll past Pforzheim in southwest Germany. Located at the confluence of the Wurm, Nagold, and Enz rivers, Pforzheim is the gateway to the Black Forest and used to be the center of a timber trade that supplied lumber for Dutch shipbuilding. Famous for its jewelry and watch-making industries, Pforzheim was called the “Golden City” by traders across the Continent. It was, in many regards, a jewel of a city itself – small but important - with many facets. 

Its importance could work against it. In World War II, Pforzheim was bombed to rubble by the Royal Air Force after intelligence reports suggested that the city built precision instruments for the German war effort. There was nothing precise about the saturation bombing of the city, however, and over a quarter of the civilian population – 17,000 souls - perished on a single February evening in 1945. Rubble from the raid was piled in a heap outside the city after the war, the shards of concrete and pretzel-twists of iron long-since covered in a green canopy of vegetation.

Thirty-five years after the bombing that broke the back of Pforzheim, Judith Haug was born in the re-built and comfortably modern city whose population hovered around 100,000. Her father was a skilled eye doctor and her mother was a pharmacist. Jude herself seemed to carry the cosmopolitan legacy of the Romans with a streak of German independence that defied containment. Her strong personality threatened to capsize the precise plans her parents cherished for her, but it also developed a wealth of experiences that shaped who she would become. In the end, Jude’s many facets made her a jewel from Pforzheim.

A Difficult Child 

“I hope your child is as horrible as you are,” Jude’s mother said to her once in exasperation. Jude smiles wryly and recalls that she was not a very good girl. Her parents were well-to-do and fully expected Jude to become an ambassador. When relatives or friends visited and “oohed” and “ahhed” over the pretty child, Jude would at first beam and dutifully parrot her parents’ intentions for her: “I’m going to be-cwum an am-BASS-a-door,” she would lisp.

Yet in truth, Jude did not have any ambitions except to have fun. She loved sports but found academics a bore. She was an accomplished equestrian who participated in dressage and show jumping, started learning English at 10, and was so bright that the hardest assignments were child’s play.

In an odd way, her mental acuity seemed to work against her. By her early teens, Jude was running with the wrong crowd and her academics had suffered. She partied hard, questioned everything, and gave her parents such a hard time that they despaired of ever taming her. One evening at the dining table, Jude looked at her parents and without ceremony said, “You know what, I think I’m going to move somewhere else.”

She chose Britain to turn over a new leaf. After fifteen minutes of discussion, Jude’s parents agreed. “They recognized that I was heading down the wrong path in Germany,” Jude says, “and there was a great boarding school in England called ‘Sevenoaks.’” The fact that an International Baccalaureate and a Model United Nations were strong suits of the school encouraged Jude’s parents to give their assent. In Jude’s mind, she was trading one life for another, and she crossed the Channel with a sense of expectation.

“The More I Have to Do”

For the first time in her life, Jude was stretched to capacity. The elite Sevenoaks Boarding School has prepared generations of Europeans for the best Universities in the world. A large percentage of graduates head to Oxford, Cambridge, or the Ivy League. Famous “Old Sennockians” include Paul Greengrass, director of The Bourne Supremacy, Bloody Sunday, and United 93, and Thomas Heatherwick, one of Britain’s most famous designers.

The constant challenge of academics stimulated Jude, but her true passions were outdoor sports. At Sevenoaks, Jude laid the foundation for her love of fitness. She captained women’s rugby, played on a British National League rugby team, was a keeper in cricket, and chose the linchpin position of goalie in field hockey. When asked why she liked positions that were magnets for hard objects at high velocity, Jude laughs and says simply, “I have good reflexes, and I loved the pressure and thrill of sudden-death penalty shots.”

She learned that the more she did, the better balance she achieved, especially when her activities were also passions. “The more I have to do, the better I do,” she says, “in fact, I thrive.” She performed well enough at Sevenoaks to be accepted to a prestigious school of economics, much to her parents’ delight. But Jude didn’t feel right about the proposed degree in government and economics, and so she deferred for a year. “I wasn’t excited about it,” she says, and that was that.

The Ends of the Earth

She traveled to Switzerland, then to Cannes, France, then back to Germany for a bit, then to the Dominican Republic before heading back to Britain. As the deadline approached for her to attend University, Jude decided that she still wasn’t ready. “A friend and I decided to apply to become snowboard instructors in America while we were still in Britain,” she recalls. A skier since she was 2, Jude had also snowboarded for seven years and felt confident that she could teach the sport to others. On their application to American Skiing Company, Jude and her friend excitedly checked off the boxes for big-name resorts in Utah, Colorado, and California. They dreamed of the glamorous life they were likely to enjoy in America, and tingled with anticipation as the weeks passed.

When letters finally came back from the company, the two young ladies ripped them open and scanned the contents. Congratulations, the letter began, you have been hired by American Skiing Company – insert high-pitched cheers - to work at our flagship resort in Bethel, Maine. Huh? The two young women looked at each other, perplexed, and simultaneously said, “Maine? Where’s that?”  They pulled out a map of the United States and decided that they were being sent to the ends of the earth.

The Toughest Year

Jude arrived safely in Maine - ends of the earth or not – and gave snowboard lessons for the ’98-’99 season. Snowboard instructing was fun, as she had hoped, but the finances could be tenuous. Despite this, she stayed in Bethel for another year. “I think that I was still running away,” she says, “and I didn’t want to return to the achievement-oriented focus that I found at home.”

Too much achievement was not a problem for Jude in the next twelve months. In fact, it was probably the toughest year of her life. Bethel is a bustling town in winter, but can be seasonally slow. And there were other elements that condensed to form a cloud over Jude’s life there. “I was involved in a bad relationship,” she says, “and I worked as a nanny for the year. It definitely motivated me to pursue further schooling.” Alone in a foreign country, strapped for cash and reeling from a relationship gone sour, Jude had never been so low.

To help turn her mood around, she decided to take a few classes at the University of Southern Maine, began to go to the gym regularly, and worked as a caretaker for a private horse farm. “I was able to ride horses again,” she beams, “and I also looked after two middle-aged schizophrenic guys.” She loved working with people and doing good for others, and that helped her to realize that medicine could be her calling. The storm and the rain that so rocked her world at Bethel began to clear a bit, and as the sun shone through, she decided that it was time to go back to school.

A Little Bit of Chemistry

Jude came to the University of New England as a pre-PA student. After a time, she realized that she wanted the full responsibility of becoming a doctor. She switched her major to biochemistry and loved it. “Chemistry makes sense of the world,” Jude says. Academics again came so readily to her that she had plenty of time to get involved in other areas of life. She worked out in the gym, became a personal trainer, worked as a nanny, and still maintained a social life. Her multi-faceted personality shone brilliantly at UNE.

But she was not – and Jude never claims to be – perfect. In fact, it was a botched lab that ironically led to a dramatic change in her life. “I had to talk to the teacher about this chemistry lab,” Jude says, “and there was another student there who had messed up the same assignment. We had never noticed each other before, and we started talking.” Cesar Viola was a 29-year-old PT student with Brazilian roots. Jude was a 21-year old native German. Both thought the other was 25. He was dark, she was blonde, but their chemistry seemed perfect, and in the course of time the couple married. And as is so often the case, biology soon followed chemistry.

“I remember someone telling me not to wear high heels at graduation,” Jude laughs, “but I waddled across the stage anyway, very hot, very off-balance and very pregnant.” Jude had planned to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. program at another medical school to which she was accepted, but when she learned that she was pregnant, she declined the offer. “My world shifted when I became pregnant,” she says. “I realized that I was more career-driven than I had thought, even though I had run away from that sort of pressure from my parents. I took inventory and decided that no longer mattered so much.”

“My Life Wasn’t About Me”

What did matter was coping with debilitating back pain. The condition had hobbled her for years, which had led her as a freshman to Dr. Doris Newman, a UNECOM alum (and current member of the OMM department), who promptly diagnosed scoliosis and began effective treatment. “No doctor had ever realized before that I had scoliosis,” Jude says, “they don’t routinely screen for it in Germany.” During her pregnancy, Jude’s back pain escalated to a level of excruciation she had never experienced, and only OMM seemed to help. “Osteopathy was a life-saver for me,” she says, “I have seen personally what osteopathic manipulative medicine/treatment can do.”

Shortly after she graduated from UNE, Jude gave birth to her beloved Antonio. And despite her mother’s exasperated wish, Jude’s child did not drive her crazy. Instead, he was a joy and an epiphany. “I realized at that moment that my life wasn’t about me anymore,” Jude muses, “That’s why I’m so excited and happy all the time – I can stop worrying.” She confesses that much of her earlier misbehavior and rebelliousness were her attempt to search for meaning and fulfillment. “Now I don’t have to search anymore,” she says, “I can be happy and free.”

In fact, her pregnancy and delivery had a huge impact on Jude’s direction in life. Her sister-in-law, Dr. Denise Viola, an OBGYN alum from UNECOM ('02), attended her when she gave birth. “Through her, I had the best birthing experience,” says Jude, “ She was so wonderful with me, and her techniques were so effective.” This experience, along with the relief from back pain that she was getting from OMM, made her realize that she wanted to practice osteopathic medicine, too. Jude applied to the University, and with her sunny disposition, stellar academic record, and multi-talented personality, was readily accepted. She was thrilled.  

“I Like My Life Full”

At UNECOM, Jude is known for her ready acquisition of material, her ability to teach fellow classmates thorny concepts, and her remarkable capacity to plunge into a wide range of activities with good cheer and obvious talent. She helps dissect for Dr. Willard, is co-president of the local chapter of the National Osteopathic Women Physicians’ Association (NOWPA), and is secretary of the Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) club. “I like my life full,” she says, “so long as those activities are things I love.”

Jude still works as a personal trainer, does yoga for relaxation and balance, and in the meat-grinder of medical school tries to make time to keep physically fit. Prior to med school, she competed in the NPC Maine Figure Championships, and placed first in the state. Looking for a challenge while in school, she competed in the OCB Maine Championships last fall, placing second, and she also placed fourth in a Figure Pro-Qualifier in New Hampshire. The competition puts a premium on muscle tone and ideal appearance rather than the often grotesque bulk of body-building events.

Some may wonder how she finds time to stay active. Having a child has helped her to prioritize, Jude declares, so that she only spends time on things that seem most important to her. And the most important thing to her these days is her family: her husband Cesar, and Antonio, who is now 2 and ½ years old. They make it a priority to spend time together and take time to do fun things, no matter what Jude’s school schedule is like. They play a lot, go to the Children’s Museum frequently, and spend as much time outside as possible. “You shouldn’t defer life until after medical school,” Jude says reflectively, “this is life.”

While she keeps personally fit and focused on her family, Jude does not forget to serve others. She has organized review sessions for first year students, arranged for speakers to visit UNECOM to address a variety of topics, and works as program coordinator for the Portland Firefighters’ Burn Camp each February, where injured children are brought to participate in winter activities. “The burn camp is the most fun I have all year,” Jude says. “The most rewarding thing is to see the kids carefree and happy – having fun – there are no words to describe that feeling.”

A Perfect Stillness

Many people are surprised when they learn that Jude is a native German who came to the United States only 9 years ago. She speaks accent-free English and uses colloquialisms properly. But Jude has not forgotten her past, and it has undoubtedly shaped who she is today. Her parents remain disappointed that she is not pursuing a career in government, Jude says, but they also admire how she has built her life around her own priorities and values. Jude, for her part, has never been happier.

“I want to go into neuromuscular medicine,” she says. “I think that as osteopaths we have these incredible techniques and treatment approaches that make us unique and I want to use them.” Jude tries to stay well-balanced personally, making it a goal for each facet of her life to complement the others. “I have a wonderful family,” she says, “I do things that I love, and I have found my calling in osteopathic medicine. By making my life about others, I have found a perfect stillness within me that allows me to live in harmony with myself and everything around me.”  

She is, in that sense, a jewel from Pforzheim.

- Steve Smith, RSAS

UNE/COM News and Events

Route 9 to Kennebunkport. Photo by Dan Sheps, MSII

Mustache Competition Raises a Hair Over $1,200 for “Caring Unlimited”

Things got a little hairy at UNECOM during the month of January.

Medical students organized the First Annual UNECOM Mustache Contest to raise money for Caring Unlimited, a domestic violence shelter in Biddeford.

Nearly a quarter of the male student population at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine failed to shave during the coldest month of winter. Far from showing a lack of professionalism, these hirsute softies displayed the best of osteopathic principles as they laid their razors aside.

Organizers Mike Jackson, MSII, and Jordan Wagner, MSII, wrote elaborate rules for the contest, dividing contestants into “clean-shaven” and “previously bearded” categories. Men then solicited donations from friends, family members, and fellow students to support them as they grew whiskers in a variety of colors and styles. There were no female contestants this year.

After a month of sustained growth, men had to shave down to only a mustache for a solid week, before the judging took place on February 2. It was not uncommon during that week to hear comments like, “Man, you look like you’re from the ‘80s – the 1880’s!” Or to see young men peer bemusedly through the shag carpeting above their chops.

The official “Mustache Judging Panel,” pre-selected from a volunteer pool of female students, applied stringent standards as they evaluated “mustachees” (Mike Jackson's term) on the categories of thickness/girth, shape, and style. The women had to make hair-twisting decisions as they reviewed men who scowled like Russian sailors, looked like lumberjacks, capered like Civil War generals, and smiled like blacksmiths.

First-year student Lacey McIntosh was one of the four judges. "The mustache competition was phenomenal!” she says, “The participants raised over a thousand dollars for charity, and never before has overgrown facial hair looked so stylish. I'm not even going to act like I'm not impressed." Joe Keen, MSII, and Eric Camyre, MSII, took home the top prizes in the “clean shaven” and “previously bearded” categories, respectively.

The cause is a good one, say the organizers, which made the discomfort and eccentricity of the facial hair worth it. “I think any cause that is going to help out those in need is a good one,” says Mike Jackson. “In this particular case, it's helping a cause where those in need truly are victims, and by helping to fund this shelter we're potentially protecting them from, and possibly stopping, physical harm where standard medicine can't.”

Jordan Wagner notes that representatives from the shelter came to visit campus, which made a lasting impression. “These folks came to talk to us in FOD (Foundations of Doctoring) last year,” he says, “and remembering that and all they're trying to do, this seemed like an important cause that could always use extra help.”

Both men were surprised by the level of hair-roots support for the event: sponsors gave more than $1,200.00 to the “ mustachees.” “It’s unbelievable!” says Wagner, “I'm psyched that it was such a success and that so many people were supportive.” Jackson adds, “I'm completely amazed at how much we were able to bring in for this, and I think it just goes to show what a fun fund-raiser for a good cause can do (Almost more amazed than the fact that I actually grew a mustache!).”

Strops to them.

- Steve Smith, RSAS

Below is a photo-montage of the Mustache Competition. All photos courtesy Lacey McIntosh, MSI:

MSIIs Jordan Wagner (left) and Mike Jackson organized the Mustache Competition.

Contestants pose before judging.

MSIs pose after the competition.

MSIIs pose for a group shot.

And what can you say after all this? The panel of judges tried not to split hairs as they thinned out the contestants. L-R Katie Wetherbee, MSII, Kerry Sternheim, MSII, Lacey McIntosh, MSI, and Sara Richmond, MSIII. (Mike Jackson, left, tries to argue his case.)

Majid Speaks at MLK. Jr. Celebration

Anouar Majid, Ph.D., professor of English at the University of New England, was the keynote speaker for the University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on January 24, 2007.

Dr. Majid’s talk was entitled “Crescent of Liberty: Islam and the African-American Struggle for Justice.” Dr. Majid prefaced his presentation by showing several news clips about Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to the United States Senate. Ellison faced a certain amount of criticism from some circles because he chose to take his oath of office on a Koran, rather than a Bible.

Dr. Majid noted that Islam has a long and often misunderstood history in the United States, of which the Keith Ellison furor is only the most recent installment. According to Majid, the first wave of Muslim immigrants came as slaves from Africa in the 1700s. Some were very well educated, and scraps of Arabic manuscripts still exist from the American colonial period as a record of these enslaved intellectuals.

Later, at least a few Muslim slaves fought on the American side during the Revolutionary War, and later still, Muslim-Americans played an instrumental role in the Civil Rights movement. The impact of Islam to the Pan-African consciousness of the 20th century seems significant. “One cannot imagine the Civil Rights movement without the contribution of Islam,” Majid said.

Hearkening back to the Keith Ellison flap, Majid noted that in the post-9/11 era, some Americans few everything associated with Islam as negative. Instead, says Majid, a careful review of American history supports the notion that Islam has promoted basic human rights for African-Americans in an environment of intellectual and physical freedom. 

-Steve Smith, RSAS

“Macular Regeneration” Film Series a New Study Break

A new medically-related film series called “Macular Regeneration” is designed as a study break for COM students. Sponsored by the RSAS Office, and hosted by Dr. John Pelletier, the series kicked off with “Gross Anatomy,” a film about the rigors of medical school and the transformation of a free-wheeling goof-off into a dedicated medical student. Students enjoyed the film, as well as snacks provided by the local chapter of the American Medical Students’ Association (AMSA.)

Films are scheduled on Mondays or Tuesdays, once a month for the remainder of the semester. A schedule and poster will be printed shortly for planning purposes. Future films will likely include “Patch Adams,” and “The Doctor,” as well as some lesser-known gems.

Art Gallery presents 'Marriage of True Minds' featuring work of 12 couples, Feb. 14-April 22
 
The Art Gallery at the University of New England presents "Marriage of True Minds," on display February 14 - April 22, 2007 on the Westbrook College Campus, 716 Stevens Ave. in Portland.

An opening reception will take place February 14 from 5:00 - 7: 00 p.m.

Conversations with the artists will take place March 8 from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. and March 22 from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public.

Marriage of True Minds

This exhibition features the work of twelve couples: Andrea and Pieter von Voorst von Beest; Angela Adams and Sherwood Hamill; Charles Hewitt and Kate Kerry; Jill Dalton and Ernie Paterno; Genetta McLean and Melville McLean; Aaron Stephan and Lauren Fensterstock; Roderick Dew and Kevin Callahan; Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowan; Anthony Shostak and Crystal Nicholas; William Curtsinger and Kate Mahoney; Crystal Cawley and David Wolfe; and Paul and Lorraine Star.

The exhibition explores the creative impulses of people who live with each other, using various mediums including oil on canvas, computer images, photography, textiles and sculpture. The works ask the audience to ponder nature versus nurture, the importance of romance, righteousness, mind over matter, proximity, proclivity, love, sex, work and play.

Art Gallery hours are Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Thursday, 1:00 to 7:00 p.m.

For more information about this and other exhibits, visit www.une.edu/artgallery or call (207) 221-4499.

(Press release posted Jan. 23, 2007)

Current Students

"Cuban Night" at Maria Aguilo-Seara's House. Photo courtesy Kim Salaycik, MSI

“Give Kids the World” SOMA Unity Project

Shawn St. Marie wasn’t surprised by the big ears of Mayor Clayton. He got used to his whiskers, too. What else would you expect from a man-sized rabbit?

Every night, Shawn watched as Mayor Clayton and his angora wife made their rounds to tuck each child into bed at the “Give Kids the World” Village in Kissimmee, Florida. The tender gesture is bittersweet: It concludes another day of activity done – another day of life lived – in a place where time is the most precious commodity.

According to its website, “Give Kids the World” Village is a 70-acre, non-profit resort in Central Florida “that creates magical memories for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. GKTW provides accommodations at its whimsical resort, donated attractions tickets, meals and more for a week-long, cost-free fantasy vacation.”

GKTW was founded over 15-years ago by Henri Landwirth, a Holocaust survivor and later philanthropist, who wanted to ensure that no child would have to forfeit their dreams due to terminal illness. Run almost entirely by volunteers, the Village has 120 villas for children and their families.

St. Marie, the second-year class president at UNECOM, volunteered at the village for the Student Osteopathic Medical Association’s (SOMA) Annual Unity Project. He joined three other UNECOM students – Michael Dominello, MSI, Casssidy Foley, MSI, and Dan Sheps, MS II – and 75 osteopathic medical students from across the country, to serve in any needed capacity during Christmas Break.

For Shawn, that meant working as the “Big Blue Train” conductor, ferrying children and their families around the Village with a cheerful smile, a red bandana, and a welcome
“A-L-L  A-B-O-A-R-D!”  Some children would ride around on the train for hours, eventually building up enough courage to move to the front, sit on Shawn’s lap, and blow the horn incessantly as they tooled around the streets.

“There was this one girl,” Shawn smiles, “who was real sassy-like and animated. She had just arrived at the Village a few hours before. When the whistle blew, this sweet girl waved good-bye to her mom - who was unaware that she was about to lose her daughter for the night.”

With each lap around the village, “KD” got a little more excited, a little sassier. In no time at all, “KD” had made her way from the back of the train to Shawn’s lap, where she wore a conductor’s hat and navigated the Big Blue Train. “Yo, take yo’ hands off the wheel… I gaht it!” she insisted, as Shawn tried to keep her on track. They circled the Village, passing her villa over and over again, waving to her mother each time. “I felt almost guilty that I was having so much fun with ‘KD,’” Shawn says, “Eventually the sun began to fall, the day grew into night, and we all started to fall a little in love with our ‘new sassy conductor,’ who was now leading the train in a modern rendition of ‘Old McDonald had a Farm.”

Embarking on the trip, Shawn expected the experience to be a saddening and humble one. Witnessing the struggles of families complicated with life-threatening illnesses would indeed be food for much internal processing. But the whole external atmosphere of the Village was extremely bright and energetic. “These children were all on the greatest vacation of their lives,” Shawn says, “and for the first time, their entire family was able to feel part of something collectively. There were no feelings of embarrassment or discomfort, since no family stood apart from the crowd.”

The parents are overwhelmed with appreciation, and the children are filled with joy, Shawn says. “You’ll never meet a group of people so loving, patient, and grateful for life’s offerings.” Volunteers are instructed not to ask children or their families what illness the child has. “The goal is to have them feel like they fit right in,” says Shawn, “everywhere else people treat them differently, but here, they are made to feel right at home.”  

For the week they spend at “Give Kids the World” Village, each child is treated like royalty. Or perhaps a bit better. “Each family is greeted at the airport with flowers and chocolates,” Shawn recounts, “then they are driven to the Village, where they have their own villa with their name on the mailbox.” Volunteers, or “angels” as they are called at the Village, help make the children feel fully loved and happily occupied. 

“The level of activities available at the village was amazing,” says Shawn. “There was a ‘Village Idol’ contest in the theatre where children had a chance to sing their hearts out. The pony rides for all of the children were especially touching to those who have been confined to a wheelchair for the majority of their lives.”
 
Many of the children are quite young, but there are some teens who visit the Village, as well. “There is a special section of the Village called ‘Amberville,’ designed for the older kids with pool tables, ping pong, arcade games, and remote-controlled motor boats,” says Shawn. “Amberville is a clubhouse for the older kids to hang out, meet friends, and show off some talent. There was an incredible miniature golf course filed with animated dinosaurs and also a stream stocked with fish, where children are guaranteed to get a bite in minutes (or hook a volunteer, if they’re not careful!).”

Cassidy Foley nearly met that fate. While at GKTW, she had the opportunity to meet one of the older children at the fishing stream. She writes:

I met K. while I was learning to dehook a fish. "Wow, you're pretty awful at that!" he told me as I shrieked and dropped the fish to the end of the line. I was terrible, and unfortunately, I kept catching the stupid fish. So K. and I tried to work together to de-hook the fish as a team. It was both of our first times at the pursuit, and I can’t say that we mastered the maneuver, but we managed not to kill any fish.

K. and I quickly gave up on the fishing and got to chatting. K. was a 15-year old boy who was considerably taller than me, and quite athletic looking. I was a little surprised to see him wearing the blue badge that signified that he was the child in the family who was diagnosed with a terminal illness. 

We were chatting easily about our dogs when he commented, "My dog smelled my cancer. He knew when I got sick, and he didn’t leave my side." K. told me how he remembered his dog’s personality changing right around the time that he got cancer for the first time. Although a little shocked, I could believe it. Dogs are incredibly receptive to their owners. K. and I continued laughing about all the funny things that our dogs do, and he shared more with me about how close to death he had been during his treatments and how lucky he was to be cancer free right now. 

I was so impressed by how mature K. was. He spoke of his cancer easily, without asking for sympathy and without blaming others for having to go through such a terrible experience. He laughed a lot and proudly wore a "ladies man" t-shirt! K. had an amazing spirit and he absolutely deserved to have a wish of his come true.
 
For Michael Dominello, the experience at GKTW was thought-provoking and inspiring. As a volunteer, Mike also worked with Shawn St. Marie on “Big Blue” and sported a conductor’s pinstriped hat. He wrestled with the dichotomy between life as a medical student and the fragile existence of a child with a life-threatening illness:

Shakespeare writes, “The web of life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” The difficulty is, our lives are often so jam-packed that we become accustomed to seeing only a small fraction of this mingling. As medical students, we wake up, go to class, study at home, Panera, or Starbucks, maybe kick back and relax for a few moments before recognizing that an attempt should be made to respond to emails deemed important enough to have survived the preliminary mass deletion. Finally, we sleep for a few hours, all to wake and do the same thing the following day.

We more or less follow a certain schedule, continue on with our habits and way of doing things, rarely stopping everything to look up and note what’s occurring in the periphery. And students are certainly not the only ones that do this (pretty sure it’s a human nature thing).

Having the opportunity to participate in the SOMA Unity Project this past winter break was in one word, refreshing. Vaclav Havel, the first President of the Czech Republic, once made the challenge, “Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.” This precisely describes the work that goes on at the Give Kids the World Village, in Kissimmee, Florida, rendering it more genuine than most anything I have ever been a part of, and making my personal experience there so powerful. 

Families staying at the resort may also visit Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Sea World, all at no cost to them. Any child with a life-threatening illness between the ages of 3-18 who has been diagnosed by a doctor and has been deemed eligible by their local wish-granting organization may visit. Sadly, approximately 80% of the children who visit the Village do not ultimately survive their illness.

Seeing my peers and future fellow physicians at work putting big smiles on kids’ faces was an energizing change from seeing them putting little black marks on scantron sheets. Most significantly, the experience really altered my perception of the journey to becoming an osteopathic physician. While I have always known that medicine is only a part of what being a doctor is really all about, my time in Florida really reinforced this notion. It has certainly influenced my ideas regarding the sort of osteopathic physician I would like to see myself become.

Each of the students who went gave freely of an already shortened Christmas Break to spend time at GKTW. For each of them, it was a small price to pay to make a big difference in the life of a child.

“I had a phenomenal time on the trip,” Cassidy reflects. “The village is incredible. I was constantly amazed at all the little things that GKTW does to make their families stay more special. I think they have thought of everything! I can't say enough good things about the organization and the opportunity to volunteer - I was knocked off my feet!”

For Shawn St. Marie, the Village carries a special poignancy. “ I may have sacrificed most of my Christmas Break,” he says, “but these kids don’t know if they’ll ever see another Christmas or New Year’s. There is no comparison. The memories I have from the trip are priceless and timeless. Just thinking of the little one I had to carry to her villa from her train because she wouldn’t let go of our departure hug makes my eyes water.”

The UNECOM students who went to Kissimmee found the experience a timely reminder as to why they want to become physicians and how they can help make a difference in other people’s lives today. “GKTW is a great organization,” Cassidy says, “and I encourage everyone to get involved and volunteer if the opportunity ever arises!”

Unless you don’t like whiskers.

-Steve Smith, RSAS

[Editor's Note: For more photos from the "Give Kids the World" trip, see C&O section on page two.]

RSAS Seeks NYLF Summer Program Coordinator

For five summers now, UNECOM has welcomed bright high school students from National Youth Leadership Forum (NYLF) to campus for three one-day visits to explore the life of a medical student and learn – for the first time for many participants – about osteopathic medicine. Up to a dozen students are needed to help with each session, and the RSAS office will be hiring a student coordinator to begin working on the project as early as mid-March. The student coordinator will have co-responsibility for planning the visits, soliciting and scheduling faculty presenters, and recruiting fellow students to serve as hosts and guides for the three visits.

National Youth Leadership Forum brings hundreds of the brightest high school students from around the country to ten major cities – the Boston regional program is housed at Babson College – for an intensive 10-day forum exploring medicine and other health care professions. As part of their program, students spend a day at a nearby medical school. Participants will visit the medical school at Boston University, Brown, Harvard, Tufts, UCONN, UMass or UNECOM. More information about NYLF is available at http://www.nylf.org/.

Forty to eighty students from the Boston group will spend the day on campus either June 26, July 19 or July 24. During their visit, they will have the opportunity to learn about osteopathic medicine, participate in an OMT demonstration, attend a mini-medical school lecture, take a virtual tour of the anatomy lab, learn about our biomedical research efforts and be able to ask any and all questions of a panel of students.

Applications for the Student Coordinator position will be accepted up through Monday, March 5, with interviews conducted later that same week and decisions made before spring break. Initial work may begin immediately, but most will take place following the April block exams. There are no set hours required in preparing for the three visits, but the coordinator will need to be available the few days prior to each visit and will facilitate the program on each visit day. In full, time commitment is approximately 100 hours and National Youth Leadership Forum is offering a stipend of $1200.

Those interested in the Student Coordinator position should send a letter of application and resume or CV (hardcopy or as an email attachment) to James Gaffney, Coordinator of Recruitment and Alumni Services, in the RSAS office or at jgaffney@une.edu. In the letter, applicants should address their experience in planning day long events, coordinating the efforts of various participants, overseeing the efforts of peers, and working within tight time constraints as well as other leadership, management or organizational skills or experiences. Letters of application are due by noon on Monday, March 5.

Knowledgeable and engaging students are also needed to work with the NYLF participants on the three days of June 26, July 19 or July 24.  Up to 10 UNECOM students are needed for each day, with the preference of hiring students who can work all three days.  Serving as a host for the day includes working with the participants in small groups, providing an Alfond and campus tour, sitting on a Q&A panel, etc.  National Youth Leadership Forum is offering a small stipend of $50 per day to student hosts. Interest in the student host position can be conveyed in a simple e-mail or written note to James Gaffney, Coordinator of Recruitment and Alumni Services, at jgaffney@une.edu. Please indicate which days you are available to participate.

Reflections on the SOMA/AOA Conference, Las Vegas, Fall 2006

It is 10 p.m. on a Friday night, and weary and tired following a long day of traveling and a short night of sleep, I arrive in Las Vegas. Exiting the airport, I move myself along with a bit of anxious anticipation for the weekend ahead under the dazzle, glitter, and general sensory overload of my new surroundings.

Upon arrival at my hotel, I am struck by the organization and fully planned schedule of the next day’s SOMA conference. Aren’t the people putting on this conference medical students just like me? How can there possibly be time for people to organize an agenda this comprehensive, thorough, and interesting? How do they even have time to think about, no less educate themselves about issues we will be facing years from now? Impressive.
 
This year’s national SOMA and AOA conferences turned out to be a crude reminder of the issues and realities that will no doubt be upon us after we leave this little bubble we call medical school. Discussion of issues pertinent to us as current osteopathic medical students and future osteopathic physicians was simultaneously refreshing, interesting, overwhelming, and a bit scary. I came away from the first day’s talks with a profound sense of isolation as a medical student, walled off from the rest of the osteopathic medical world only pondering the intricacies of embryonic development and the arcane structures of the human body. 

Some of the issues that were going to be pressing us for many years to come were made strikingly poignant during my brief four-day stint at the two conferences. Medical malpractice, retail medical clinics, Medicare reform and reimbursement, primary care physician shortages, continually increasing numbers of uninsured patients, Healthcare financing, limitation in expansion for post graduate medical training, and a laundry list of others - all things which I was somewhat familiar with on a superficial level became much more ingrained as a part of the medical world that we are going to inherit. While the education provided at the conferences could not be extensive due to time restrictions, I thought these talks to be invariably useful in piquing my interest and motivating me to learn more on my own.

The other major sentiment I would take away from “Sin City” would be the importance of networking and developing relationships with other people in my chosen profession. This became especially clear during my time at the AOA conference. Here, I bore witness to many, many professionals conversing and sharing information, practices, and changing trends in particular fields of medicine. I left with a strong feeling that much of this information was unable to be clearly or efficiently distilled from the vast body of literature available to each physician.

Simultaneously, I saw firsthand how networking and developing connections was relevant to student medical groups, and how many people interested in different aspects of osteopathic medicine were able to come together and share details and experiences in moving towards common objectives at their respective schools. It was here in Las Vegas, at the 2006 AOA conference, that I realized that networking and collegiality were absolutely essential to my personal development as a successful physician.
In conclusion, I’d like to say that I had a wonderful time in Las Vegas. I feel that as a naïve first year student, my experiences here were invaluable in learning how the system “works” as well as in exposing myself to certain relevant things I would never hear if I stayed back in chilly Maine. I feel incredibly grateful that I had the resources to go on such an enlightening and extremely fun trip as this one, and feel that every first year worth their white coat should go to the AOA/SOMA convention in the attempt to learn how little we really do know, and to be introduced/inundated by how our chosen profession truly works.

- Co-authored by John Matulis OMSI, Michael Dominello OMSI

For page two of The COMmunicator, click here.

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Please send comments, suggestions, submissions, or warm chocolate chip cookies to Steve Smith at ssmith12@une.edu